Chapter Review: Fairy Tail (531)

The chapter was decent. There are a few parts that I particularly enjoyed.

Storyline

This week's chapter starts off with Acnologia closing in on Blue Pegasus' magic bomber, Christina. Inside the ship, Wendy Marvell is seen talking with Anna Heartfilia. Meanwhile, Jellal Fernandes and Erza Scarlet stares from a distance and questions her identity. With the 'timelapse' fast-approaching, Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki appears and informs them to brace for impact. In passing through the 'ravines of time', they believed that their plan to trap Acnologia was successful. However, to their surprise, the 'Black Dragon of the Apocalypse' had emerged unscathed and latched onto the ship. Curious by what had happened, Anna ran to check on the 'timelapse', only to find that it had closed. With the situation becoming increasingly more dangerous, Erza tells Ichiya that they are left with no choice but to destroy the lacrima that prevents dragon slayers from experiencing motion sickness. In doing this, Acnologia was unable to keep up and released his grip on Christina, watching as the ship flew away. The next page shows Lucy Heartfilia and Gray Fullbuster opening the Book of E.N.D. Then the scene changes to the battle between Zeref Dragneel and Natsu Dragneel. This time, Natsu was overwhelmed causing Mavis Vermilion to step in. But he tells her to get back and unleashes his most powerful form, Dragon Force.

Analysis

Wendy and Anna - Wendy's interaction with Anna seems a little odd. Why she is so persistent in remembering who Anna is? And what does Anna mean when she says Wendy will remember her in due time? I get the feeling that Anna is hiding a lot of important information.

Jellal - I like how Jellal takes precautions regarding Anna's words. It makes the situation more realistic. Not to mention, Jellal claims that Erza's weakness is having too much faith in people. Could this be foreshadowing the events to come?

Erza - One thing that really makes Erza stand out is her intelligence. I'm genuinely amazed by how she comes up with a solution. Destroying the lacrima to get Acnologia off the ship was very smart.

Book of E.N.D - This was a pretty decent part. I wonder what the words in the book means and why it wasn't supposed to be opened. Hopefully we get more information about it.

Natsu vs. Zeref - The events leading up to this fight were very well written. The fact that Natsu has to use Dragon Force against Zeref tells us he was left with no other choice. In other words, Zeref is a lot more powerful than what he has shown. I'm excited to see how this battle will play out. And what is Mavis' role in this fight?

Criticisms

My only problem with this chapter was the use of 'timelapse'. To be fair, there is still a lot that has yet to be revealed so I won't heavily criticize it.

Timelapse - Exactly what was the purpose of the timelapse? And why does Zeref want to use it for the Neo Eclipse? To be honest, they don't seem remotely related. And the fact that the 'ravines of time' even exists seems a little far-fetched... No foreshadowing was involved and all this time traveling is very unclear. I will change my position on this matter if everything revealed later on makes sense.

Final Thoughts

Overall, there were parts that were good and others that I felt could have been improved. Also, in my opinion, the title for this week's chapter "Pegasus vs. Acnologia" is more applicable to last week's chapter because they actually fought then whereas in this chapter there was no fight. Likewise, the title for last week's chapter "Neo Eclipse" should have been the title for this week's chapter because the events in this chapter seem to be leading up to it. Anyways, next week's double chapter will be interesting.

Looking forward to Chapter 532: Love Can No Longer Be Seen and Chapter 533!

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